Money Matters Sample Lesson

You are viewing a sample lesson. This is the first lesson of Money Explorers, a financial literacy course for kids, coming Fall 2025.

Welcome!

Welcome to Rest Over Riches! We’re so glad you’re here. You’re about to explore a free sample from our brand-new course, Money Explorers! This is Lesson One, Money Matters.

It’s just the beginning of an exciting journey where you’ll discover what money is, why it matters, and how you can make wise choices with it. The full Money Explorers course will be available in Fall 2025, but for now, we hope you enjoy this sneak peek, and have fun learning along the way!

Think about it

There are over 8 billion people in the whole world, and almost every person will use money at least once in their life. Most grown-ups use money every single day. If money is something that almost everyone uses every day, it must be super important to learn about! Not only that, but money is mentioned in the Bible more than faith, prayer, or even love. If God thinks that money is important to discuss, then we should definitely learn about it. That’s why you’re taking this course!

How would you describe what money is and what it’s for?

Let’s Learn

Money is something we use almost every day, even if we don’t always see it! It helps us buy food, clothes, toys, and vacations. But what is money, exactly?

Money is something that we can trade with others to get something we need or want in return.

Money helps people trade without having to swap items. Instead of trading chickens for bread like people did long ago, or instead of trading a sandwich for a pencil, you just use money and you can get what you need. For instance, if you have 3 dollars, you can trade them for an ice cream!

Today, money comes in the form of dollar bills and coins. Money is even digital, transferred over the internet so we can easily pay for things using a phone or debit card without having to carry coins and dollar bills around. 

A hammer is a tool that helps us build by driving in nails. Money is a tool that helps us buy things by paying for them. 

Money can do more than just buy things. Money also holds its value, which means if you earn it today, you can save it to use later. That’s helpful! But remember, money only works because we all agree it’s worth something. If no one believed in it, it wouldn’t be useful. We’ll talk more about why some things are more valuable than other things in another lesson.

Words to Know

Money is something that we can trade with others to get something we need or want in return. 

Value is what something is worth to someone.  

Did You Know?

Money is mentioned in the Bible more than 2300 times! That is more than how many times the Bible mentions salvation, faith, prayer, and love, combined! In addition, Jesus spoke about money in 16 of His 38 parables. Why? Because money reveals the heart. We’ll talk about that in another lesson.

Let’s Play!

Drag the Words Game

Instructions: Drag the correct word into each sentence.

Bible Time

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
— Matthew 6:21

In the book of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 21, Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This verse means that the things we care about the most, the things we spend our time thinking about, working for, and wanting, show what’s really important to us in our hearts.

Your “treasure” isn’t just money or things you can buy. It could be anything you value a lot: toys, pets, sports, books, screen time, hobbies, awards, being the smartest, being the funniest, or even what other people think about you.

If you treasure money, your heart will focus on getting more of it. If you treasure being famous, your heart will focus on getting attention. But, if you treasure God and the things that matter to Him, your heart will focus on loving others, being generous, and making wise choices.

This verse reminds us to pay attention to what we’re chasing after. Because whatever we treasure shapes how we think, what we do, and how we live.

With Your Grown-Up

If a grown-up or parent is nearby, spend a minute to discuss one or more of these topics.

If someone looked at how we spend our time and money, what would they think is important to us?

Can you think of a time when we chose to give our money to someone else who needed it? How did it feel to give?

Hands On

Put learning into action! Download the activity and dive into a fun, practical way to explore today’s lesson.

What we Learned

Today we learned that money is something almost everyone uses and the Bible talks about it a lot, more than even faith and love! It helps us trade, buy things, and save for later, but it’s just a tool. It’s a necessary thing in life, but not the most important thing. Jesus reminds us that what we treasure shows what’s in our heart, so it’s important to use money wisely so that we treasure the blessings in life that are the most important, like our family, our friends, and showing love to others.

High-Five!

Hit play for your end-of-lesson video!